Veteran lawyer and human rights activist Gitobu Imanyara has shared chilling details about his arrest and detention during Kenya’s struggle for multi-party democracy in the 1990s.

Speaking in a local TV interview on Monday, June 23, 2025, Imanyara recalled how he was taken to a place he never expected, underground cells at Nairobi Traffic Police Headquarters in Ngong Road.

“I didn’t know there were underground cells there,” he said. “That’s when I discovered, because I was put in one.”

Imanyara had been arrested just before a planned rally at Kamukunji Grounds to push for pluralism, alongside other democracy activists like Charles Rubia and Kenneth Matiba.

“We were organising to support Charles Rubia and Kenneth Matiba,” he said, adding that Paul Muite, a fellow activist and lawyer, was helping coordinate their legal and political strategy.

Before the rally could take place, Imanyara was arrested and taken to the Traffic Police HQ on Ngong Road.

“At around midnight, I was pulled out of the cells and put in a blue Kombi,” he recalled. “I was told to sit at the back, and then the policemen started bashing me with their boots while singing, as they drove around the city.”

Torture beneath Nairobi streets

Eventually, he realised he was being taken underground.

“I could feel movement, like I was in a lift. When it stopped and opened, I was thrown out. I could hear screams, I wasn’t the first one there,” he said.

The underground cells were in terrible condition.

“They were waterlogged. Your feet would swell. You’d get chest infections,” Imanyara said. “After five or six days, I was served with a detention order.”

His health got worse, and he was later transferred to Naivasha, then charged with sedition. He recalled being tortured and even falling unconscious.

“I found myself in Kenyatta Hospital, chained to a bed for three and a half months,” he said.

Imanyara stressed that the struggle was not his alone.

“Many Kenyans went through worse and never lived to tell the story,” he said.

He warned against ignoring the lessons of the past.

“We must not allow President William Ruto to take us backwards. His priority should be to defend the Constitution, not dismantle it.”